LyondellBasell will start the closure of its Houston-area petroleum refinery on the finish of January, the corporate confirmed.
The closure was first reported Wednesday by Reuters, which additionally reported that a whole bunch of staff can be laid off consequently. LyondellBasell is a world chemical firm and its U.S. headquarters are positioned in Houston.
“LyondellBasell is on schedule to stop refining operations on the Houston Refinery on the finish of the primary quarter of 2025,” a LyondellBasell spokesperson stated in a press release to Houston Public Media. “As beforehand talked about, the progressively deliberate ramp-down begins towards the tip of January and continues via February. Our focus is on safely ceasing refining operations to guard the neighborhood, setting and our employees.”
Reuters, citing an unnamed supply, reported that as much as 400 staff on the refinery can be laid off within the following months. A LyondellBasell consultant didn’t touch upon whether or not layoffs can be going down or what number of staff is perhaps affected.
Based on the corporate’s web site, the Houston refinery was the primary to open alongside the Houston Ship Channel when it started operations in 1918. The 700-acre web site employs roughly 1,200 employees and contractors and primarily produces gasoline, diesel, jet gasoline and lube oils. LyondellBasell claims that as of 2018, the refinery had an general financial impression of $811 million.
The corporate had initially deliberate to exit the refining enterprise and shut the Houston location in 2023, however finally delayed the closure till the primary quarter of 2025. Based on a Could 2023 information launch from LyondellBasell, the corporate deliberate to shut the refinery to transition right into a “worthwhile round and low carbon options enterprise.”
Information of the closure comes a bit of greater than per week earlier than the corporate is about to announce its fourth-quarter 2024 monetary outcomes on Jan. 31.
